Nordic Modes of Bildung, Schooling, and Upbringing The interplay between individualism, collectivism, and institutionalized lives
Digital Conference April 22nd and 23rd 2021
Conference program and abstract book
1 Welcome to the conference Nordic Modes of Bildung, Schooling, and Upbringing The interplay between individualism, collectivism, and institutionalized lives!
Images of the modern Nordic societies are often paradoxical: Strongly socially cohesive but renowned for their liberal social values; Equal rights and opportunities for all blended with collective demands and duties; Strong trust and solidarity but less responsibility for helping your neighbor. The Nordic countries have historically shown both strong collectivist traits epitomized in social democratic concepts like “folkhemmet” (S) or expressions like “raising a building together” (DK) as well as strong individualist traits of universalized individual rights to social goods and services. In the Nordic model of education ideals of a common “folkskola” and of “folkeoplysning/folkbildning” have included both more communitarian as well as more individualistic conceptualizations of “dannelse” (Bildung).
In the field of education individuals are currently urged to optimize their contribution to society. Lifelong learning under the banner of employability is no longer just a possibility but has almost turned into a duty. The strong “welfare states” make equality more possible – but does the turn to strong “competition states” also indicate a new more coercive collectivism?
In the light of these tensions, we aim in this conference at examining historical and current ideals, practices, and institutions related to the formative aspects of Nordic citizens’ lives—their childhoods, parenting values, schooling, education, and lifelong learning. We invite researchers that are engaged in the study of the institutions and arenas in which children and youth are brought up and educated. How have aims and expectations changed over time both in the Nordic settings and worldwide? Are there specific Nordic traditions in Bildung, education, and upbringing? Are they more rooted in common ideals of equality and communitarianism than in other Western and global societies? How are these ideals expressed, justified, and institutionalized in a more globalized era?
The conference is held digitally in Zoom.
Join here: https://uio.zoom.us/j/69831291152?pwd=MURBWm9OMGF2cHNuY3A5T3B0NjZxQT09
Meeting ID: 698 3129 1152
Password: Nordic
This document includes the program overview, parallel session program, practical information about the use of Zoom and all abstracts.
2 Table of content
PROGRAM OVERVIEW ...... 5 THURSDAY, 22ND OF APRIL 2021 ...... 5 FRIDAY, 23RD APRIL 2021 ...... 6 PARALLEL SESSION PROGRAMME: ...... 7
THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30 – PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 ...... 7 THURSDAY 14.45 – 16.15 – PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 ...... 8 FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00 – PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 ...... 10 PARALLEL SESSIONS OVERVIEW OF CONTRIBUTORS ...... 12 PRACTICAL INFORMATION ABOUT ZOOM ...... 13 SELF-SELECTING A BREAKOUT ROOM ...... 13 QUESTIONS OR COMMENTS DURING THE CONFERENCE ...... 13 ABSTRACT BOOK ...... 14
KEYNOTES ...... 14 Mette Buchardt ...... 14 Andy Green ...... 15 INVITED PANELS AND LECTURES ABSTRACTS ...... 17 Pillar 1: Mariann Solberg ...... 17 Pillar 2: Magnus Hultén ...... 18 Pillar 3: Book presentation with discussant ...... 19 Pillar 4: Invited panel chaired by Berit Karseth ...... 22 Pillar 5: Eva Gulløv ...... 25 PARALLEL SESSION ABSTRACTS ...... 26
PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 1 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ...... 26 Elin Rødahl Lie (University of Oslo) ...... 26 HILDE BONDEVIK & INGA BOSTAD (UNIVERSITY OF OSLO) ...... 27 Ilmi Willbergh & Turid Skarre Aasebø (University of Agder) ...... 29 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 2 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ...... 31 Bjørn Smestad (OsloMet) and Hilde Opsal (Volda University College) ...... 31 Brit Marie Hovland (NLA University College) ...... 32 Beatrice Partouche (University of Roma Tre) ...... 34 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 3 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ...... 36 Fredrik W. Thue (OsloMet) ...... 36 Sølvi Mausethagen (OsloMet) ...... 36 Åsa Melander (University of Roehampton) ...... 37 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 4 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ...... 38 Hilde Marie Madsø-Jacobsen (University of Oslo) ...... 38 Gørill Warvik Vedeler (The Arctic University of Norway) ...... 38 Petteri Hansen (University of Helsinki) ...... 40 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 1 – PILLAR 5 (THURSDAY 13.00 – 14.30) ...... 42 Teresa Aslanian (University of South-Eastern Norway) ...... 42 Tuva Skjelbred Nodeland (Uppsala University) ...... 43 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 1 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ...... 44 Ingerid Straume (University of Oslo) ...... 44 Ingrid Smette (University of Oslo) and Jake Murdoch (University of Bourgogne) ...... 45 Thale K. Stalenget (University of Oslo) ...... 46 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 2 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ...... 48 Harald Jarning (University of Oslo) ...... 48 Åsa Melin (Karlstad University) ...... 49 Josefine Jarheie (OsloMet) ...... 50
3 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 3 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ...... 52 Birgit Schaffar & Niklas Rosenblad (University of Helsinki) ...... 52 Turid Løyte Harboe (NLA University College) ...... 53 Afshan Bibi (Univeristy of Oslo) ...... 54 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 4 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ...... 55 Symposium chaired by Bernadette Hörmann (University of Oslo) ...... 55 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 2 – PILLAR 5 (THURSDAY 14:45 – 16.15) ...... 58 Victoria de Leon Born, Kristinn Hegna og Kristin Beate Vasbø (University of Oslo) ...... 58 Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen (University of Oslo) ...... 59 Fengshu Liu (University of Oslo) ...... 60 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 1 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) ...... 61 Joakim Berg Larsen (The Arctic University of Norway) ...... 61 Pål Anders Opdal (The Arctic University of Norway) ...... 61 Sølvi Mausethagen, Cecilie Dalland & Hege Knudsmoen (OsloMet) ...... 62 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 2 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) ...... 64 Symposium chaired by Harald Jarning and Sverre Tveit (University of Oslo) ...... 64 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 3 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) ...... 66 Beatrice Cucco (Università degli Studi di Torino) ...... 66 Jesper Eckhardt Larsen (University of Oslo) ...... 67 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 4 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) ...... 68 Maike Luimes (Kristiania University College) ...... 68 Anniken Hotvedt Sundby & Berit Karseth (University of Oslo) ...... 69 Ole Andreas Kvamme (University of Oslo) ...... 71 PARALLEL PAPER SESSION 3 – PILLAR 5 (FRIDAY 12.30 – 14.00) ...... 72 Symposium chaired by Jin Hui Li (Aalborg university) ...... 72
4 Program overview Thursday, 22nd of April 2021
Time Activity
08.30 Practical information
09.00 Opening – by Tore Rem, Director UiO Nordic and Inga Bostad, project leader NordEd, University of Oslo (UiO)
09.30 The Nordic Model and The Educational Welfare State in a European Light – Between Social Problem Solving and Hidden Spiritual Ambitions – Keynote by Professor Mette Buchardt, Centre for Education Policy Research, Aalborg University
10.30 Break
10.45 Invited panels and lectures:
Breakout room Pillar 1:
What is knowledge in Education? Changing ideals in Norwegian education policy – Lecture by Professor Mariann Solberg, University of Tromsø
Comments by Lars Løvlie and Inga Bostad, UiO
Breakout room Pillar 2:
Science wars? How conceptualisation of knowledge in education has become the centre of the debate over Sweden's poor Pisa-scores – Lecture by Magnus Hultén, Linköping University.
Comments from panel led by Harald Jarning, UiO
Participants: Magnus Hultén, Linköping University, Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, UiO
12.00 Lunch break
Parallel paper session 1 13.00 Breakout rooms Pillar 1, Pillar 2, Pillar 3, Pillar 4 and Pillar 5
14.30 Break
14.45- Parallel paper session 2 16:15 Breakout rooms Pillar 1, Pillar 2, Pillar 3, Pillar 4 and Pillar 5
5 Friday, 23rd April 2021
Time Activity
09.00 Invited panels and lectures: Breakout room Pillar 3 Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model – book presentation with discussant
Panel led by Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, UiO
Participants: Kim Helsvig, Oslo Metropolitan University, Fredrik Thue, Oslo Metropolitan University, Barbara Schulte, University of Vienna
Breakout room Pillar 4
The Limits of Schools Reforms and their De-limiting power – Panel led by Berit Karseth, UiO
Participants: Kirsten Sivesind, UiO, Christian Ydesen, University of Aalborg, Daniel Petterson, University of Gävle,
Breakout room Pillar 5
Ideals of the Nordic childhood: Civilising missions in changing times – Lecture by Eva Gulløv, University of Aarhus
10.15 Break
10.30 Models of Lifelong Learning and their Social and Economic Outcomes. How Distinctive is the ‘Nordic Model’ Now? – Keynote by Professor Andy Green, Institute of Education, University College London
11.30 Lunch break
12.30 Parallel paper session 3
Breakout rooms Pillar 1, Pillar 2, Pillar 3, Pillar 4 and Pillar 5
14:00 Break
14.15 Closing reflections by Professor Daniel Tröhler, University of Vienna/University of Oslo -15:00
6 Parallel session programme:
Thursday 13.00 – 14.30 – Parallel paper session 1 Pillar 1 Elin Rødahl Lie (University of Oslo) Gender Equality, third, fourth or fifth act? A critical analysis of Nordic educational discourses on gender equality
Hilde Bondevik & Inga Bostad (University of Oslo) Being at home – being at school: Ideals of education for children with special needs at two institutions in Norway
Ilmi Willbergh & Turid Skarre Aasebø (University of Agder) The Bildung of students by cultural references in teaching
Pillar 2 Bjørn Smestad (OsloMet) and Hilde Opsal (Volda University College) (Research on) New Maths in the Nordic countries – a systematic review
Brit Marie Hovland (NLA University College) Textbook revisions, revised narratives and international networking - Inter war and inter play
Beatrice Partouche (University of Roma Tre) The revision of school texts in the 20s and 30s of the twentieth century: the international movements and the Norwegian and Italian case.
Pillar 3
Fredrik W. Thue (OsloMet) Preaching and teaching: The religious origins of Nordic teacher cultures
Sølvi Mausethagen (OsloMet) The Discourse on Professionalism in Teacher Education
Åsa Melander (University of Roehampton) The Comprehensive Teacher and Social Cohesion. Scandinavian teacher roles 1960-1990
7 Pillar 4 Hilde Marie Madsø-Jacobsen (University of Oslo) Mentoring of Newly Qualified Teachers: Norwegian policy intentions and implications for school leadership
Gørill Warvik Vedeler (The Arctic University of Norway) Collaborative Autonomy-Support – A Pivotal Approach in School–Home Collaboration in Norwegian Upper Secondary Schools
Petteri Hansen (University of Helsinki) Looking in the same direction (once again)? Contrasting policy futures in Swedish and Finnish basic education before and after the PISA-boom
Pillar 5
Teresa Aslanian (University of South-Eastern Norway) Ideals of the Nordic childhoods: Schoolchildren’s memories of kindergarten: embedded values in the unique learning environment of Norwegian kindergartens
Tuva Skjelbred Nodeland (Uppsala University) Children of the revolution: socialist upbringing in the Norwegian labour movement, 1910-1940.
Thursday 14.45 – 16.15 – Parallel paper session 2
Pillar 1 Ingerid Straume (University of Oslo) Privileged and Peripheral: Doing educational theory in the Nordic region
Ingrid Smette (University of Oslo) and Jake Murdoch (University of Bourgogne) Integration of migrant children in schools: A comparative analysis of French and Norwegian approaches and notions of equality
Thale K. Stalenget (University of Oslo) Theories of ethical and political "Bildung" in the history of Nordic common schooling. How can education prevent or reduce extremism?
8 Pillar 2 Harald Jarning (University of Oslo) Curriculum changes and schooling for all. National Curriculum Packages across the divide between compulsory and post-compulsory schooling: 1960 – 1985 – 2010. Norwegian examples and search for commonplaces for Nordic comparisons.
Åsa Melin (Karlstad University) From the parallel school system to a primary school in Sweden: How School reforms were handled at municipal level 1950-1968: Theories of ethical and political "Bildung" in the history of Nordic common schooling
Josefine Jarheie (OsloMet) The Standard “School Ready” Child – What Danish ECEC Teachers’ Work of Assessing and Preparing Minority Language Children for School Can Tell Us About Perceptions of “School Readiness”
Pillar 3 Birgit Schaffar & Niklas Rosenblad (University of Helsinki) “You can go when you are ready!” – Reflections on what it is to accomplish education
Turid Løyte Harboe (NLA University College) Nordic reformulation of Bildung: impact from and on teachers
Afshan Bibi (Univeristy of Oslo) Nordic paths and international entanglements: Scandinavian teachers’ involvement in the New Education Fellowship from 1920 to 1940
Pillar 4 Symposium chaired by Bernadette Hörmann Did the Nordic Model Survive? A comparative-historical analysis of school reform policy
Participants: - Christian Ydesen - Andreas Nordin - Bernadette Hörmann & Kirsten Sivesind - Chanwoong Baek
Pillar 5
Victoria de Leon Born, Kristinn Hegna og Kristin Beate Vasbø (University of Oslo)
Authority and closeness. New power relations between youth and their parents?
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Harriet Bjerrum Nielsen (University of Oslo) Gender play in time and space
Fengshu Liu (University of Oslo) Modernization as maximization: Three generations of young men and women in China
Friday 12.30 – 14.00 – Parallel paper session 3
Pillar 1
Joakim Berg Larsen (The Arctic University of Norway) A Relevant Concept Bildung
Pål Anders Opdal (The Arctic University of Norway) Learning
Sølvi Mausethagen, Cecilie Dalland & Hege Knudsmoen (OsloMet) Municipal approaches towards inclusive education
Pillar 2 Symposium chaired by Harald Jarning and Sverre Tveit (University of Oslo) Nordic models of grading, testing and examination – towards a research overview Participants: - Harald Jarning & Sverre Tveit - Christian Lundahl - Christian Ydesen - Petteri Hansen - Daniel Tröhler
Pillar 3 Beatrice Cucco (Università degli Studi di Torino) The Impact of the Nordic Education Model on Teacher Professionalism and Training
Jesper Eckhardt Larsen (University of Oslo) The Era of “Folk” Teachers in Norway and Denmark: Building a National Knowledge Culture from Below, 1880-1920.
Pillar 4 Maike Luimes (Kristiania University College) The enactment of curriculum change in Norwegian lower secondary school: Pupils, teachers and heads of schools’ experiences with pre-vocational education
Anniken Hotvedt Sundby & Berit Karseth (University of Oslo)
10 The `knowledge question` in the revised curriculum in Norway
Ole Andreas Kvamme (University of Oslo) Nordic environmental education in the 1990s: the muvin project
Pillar 5 Symposium chaired by Jin Hui Li
Changing modes of Danish governance and practice of education and upbringing for migrant children and families since the 1970s
Participants: - Jin Hui Li - Birthe Lund - Nanna Ramsing Enemark
11 Parallel sessions overview of contributors Room and chair Pillar 1 (Inga Pillar 2 (Harald Pillar 3 (Jesper Pillar 4 Pillar 5 (Kristinn Bostad) Jarning & Eckhard- (Bernadette Hegna) Sverre Tveit) Larsen) Hörmann) Parallel 13:00 Bjørn Smestad Sølvi Hilde Marie Teresa Aslanian session 1 13:30 Elin Rødahl Lie & Hilde Opsal Mausethagen Madsø-Jacobsen
13:30 Hilde Bondevik Brit Marie Åsa Melander Gørill Warvik Tuva Skjelbred Thursday 14:00 & Inga Bostad Hovland Vedeler Nodeland 13.00 – 14:00 Ilmi Willbergh Beatrice Petteri Hansen 14.30 14:30 & Turid Skarre Partouche Aasebø
Room and chair Pillar 1 (Inga Pillar 2 (Harald Pillar 3 (Jesper Pillar 4 Pillar 5 (Kristinn Bostad) Jarning & Eckhard- (Bernadette Hegna) Sverre Tveit) Larsen) Hörmann) Parallel 14:45 Ingerid Harald Jarning Birgit Schaffar Symposium Victoria de Leon session 2 15:15 Straume & Niklas chaired by Born, Rosenblad Bernadette & Kristinn Hegna Hörmann Thursday Participants: 14.45 – 15:15 Ingrid Smette Åsa Melin Turid Løyte - Christian Harriet Bjerrum 16.15 – 15:45 and Jake Harboe Ydesen Nielsen Murdoch - Andreas Nordin 15:45 Thale K. Josefine Jarheie Afshan Bibi - Bernadette Fengshu Liu 16:15 Stalenget Hörmann & Kirsten Sivesind - Chanwoong Baek Room and chair Pillar 1 (Inga Pillar 2 (Harald Pillar 3 (Jesper Pillar 4 Pillar 5 (Jin Hui Bostad) Jarning & Eckhard- (Bernadette Li) Sverre Tveit) Larsen) Hörmann) Parallel 12:30 Joakim Berg Symposium Beatrice Cucco Maike Luimes Symposium session 3 13:00 Larsen chaired by chaired by Jin Harald Jarning Hui Li Friday & Sverre Tveit Participants: 12.30 – Participants: - Jin Hui Li 14.00 – 13:00 Pål Anders - Christian Jesper Anniken Hotvedt - Birthe Lund 13:30 Opdal Lundahl Eckhardt Sundby & Berit - Nanna - Christian Larsen Karseth Ramsing Ydesen Enemark 13:30 Sølvi - Petteri Ole Andreas 14:00 Mausethagen, Hansen Kvamme Cecilie Dalland - Daniel & Hege Tröhler Knudsmoen
12
Practical information about Zoom All key notes will be presented in The Main session Invited lectures and parallel sessions will be held in separate breakout rooms: • Pillar I: Theories of ethical and political "Bildung" in the history of Nordic common schooling • Pillar II: National curricula and school subjects in the transition from folk schools (folkskola) to long comprehensive schooling. • Pillar III: Nordic teacher ideal-types • Pillar IV: Nordic school reforms and beyond: Knowledge, governance and areas of tension • Pillar V: Ideals of the Nordic childhoods You will Self-select a breakout room
Self-selecting a breakout room Participants will be able to view and select from a list of breakout rooms (Pillar 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5) that the conference has created. You will be able to enter and leave breakout rooms freely.
1. Click Breakout Rooms in your meeting controls. This will display the list of open breakout rooms created by the conference. 2. Hover your pointer over the number to the right of breakout room you wish to join, click Join, then confirm by clicking Join 3. Repeat as necessary to join other breakout rooms, or click Leave Room to return to the main session.
Questions or comments during the conference • To ask a question, write «Q» in the chat. You will then be added to the speakerlist by the session chair. • You will be asked to speak by the sessions chair when its your turn
13 Abstract book Throughout rest of the document, you will find the presentation of keynotes, the abstracts for the invited talks and panels and for the papers and symposia of the parallel sessions.
Keynotes Mette Buchardt Professor Mette Buchardt, Centre for Education Policy Research, Aalborg University, will speak on the topic: The Nordic Model and The Educational Welfare State in a European Light – Between Social Problem Solving and Hidden Spiritual Ambitions The state education systems across Europe have since the late 19th century been central political tools in not only state crafting but also in the solving of social problems. This is not least the case with regard to the Nordic states, where an education system, allegedly ‘for all’ evolved along with the modernization and consolidation of the five Nordic nation state at present and with the development of what was since the mid-20th century often labelled as ‘the Nordic welfare state model’. In the wording of welfare state historian Mary Hilson the Nordic model is however historically to be understood as a model with five exceptions, each of the state in question being an exception. Also it can be questioned to which degree the Nordic model of e.g. education is exceptional and to which degree the Nordic education reforms from late 19thcentury and during the 20th century are either following same traces or at least sought to develop answers to the same questions and challenges as was the case in other parts of Europe. In late 19th century and early 20th century, a groundbreaking period for Nordic education reforms, not least the so-called social question – how to handle poverty while still retaining class society and difference in social status and income – was a key political question cutting across the nation-states and (declining) empires of Europe. Education politics, often overlapping with social politics, was seen as a main tool to find new strategies to solve this political challenge. However, the political efforts concerning the social question did not only address social difference, but also e.g. religious difference, something which was increasingly seen as a cultural question. Also here the education systems were considered a means of creating social and cultural cohesion which in different ways was aiming at shifting religion from a churchly matter into a cultural and social glue of the state, and across the Nordic states young modern so-called Cultural Protestant public intellectuals was, together with not least Social Democratic state crafters, central actors in developing such new approaches and strategies. Through the examination of late 19th- and early 20th-century education reforms in the Nordic states and comparing them with reform efforts from other parts of Europe, the lecture will deal with how we can understand the demands put on and the role of the welfare state education systems as educator of welfare state mentalities as a corner stone in schooling into citizenship, including how welfare state education also aims at educating into and thus simultaneously co-produce social imaginaries of religious, cultural and social difference and cohesion in present-day Europe. On this basis, the lecture will also address the question of weather, and if so, how to define an exceptional Nordic model for educating citizens in a democratic and allegedly secular society.
14
Mette Buchardt is full Professor and Head of Centre for Education Policy Research, Dept. of Culture & Learning, Aalborg University (Aalborg & Copenhagen) as well as visiting professor, at the Department of Historical, Philosophical and Religious studies, Umeå University. Mette Buchardt is currently working on the interdisciplinary research project “The Child and Curriculum” on life philosophy in the Swedish Curriculum 1960s to the present and is head of the historical research dimension of this project. She is also currently engaged in the project “FLOW, Global flows of migrants and their impact on Northern European welfare states” with a special focus on policies on education and labour market. Recent book publications include: ”Kulturforklaring: Uddannelseshistorier om muslimskhed” (2016), ”Pedagogized Muslimness: Religion and Culture as Identity Politics in the Classroom”(2014), and ”Education, state and citizenship” with co-editors: Pirjo Markkola and Heli Valtonen (2013).
Andy Green Professor Andy Green, Institute of Education, University College London, will speak on the topic:
Models of Lifelong Learning and their Social and Economic Outcomes. How Distinctive is the ‘Nordic Model’ Now? Comparative political economy has traditionally identified different regimes of capitalist economy and welfare systems in groups of countries distinguished by different histories and forms of socio- economic organisation. Theories generally characterise the most distinctive regimes as: ‘Social Market’ (typically German-speaking countries); ‘Social Democratic’ (Nordics); and ‘Liberal’ (English- speaking countries), with East Asian and Mediterranean countries considered to have different (although less distinctive) types of regime. Literature on education systems and their educational and socio-economic outcomes have also identified distinctive models of lifelong learning, broadly corresponding to these different regime types. Regimes types are generally seen as subject to a degree of ‘path dependency’, which accounts for their reproduction over time, but they are also subject to changes at key conjunctures. Are we now at one of these transitional moments and how far can we still talk about a distinctive ‘Nordic model’?
This presentation re-examines the traditional models of lifelong learning systems and their socio- economic effects, asking how these are changing and what new models are emerging. The analysis draws primarily on the data on skills levels, qualifications, training, employment and values for the 34 countries and country regions in the first and second rounds of the Survey of Adult Skills. Repeated cross-sectional data from PISA and other sources are used to identify the key characteristics of primary and secondary educational systems and to track changes in aggregate skills outcomes over time; whilst the data from SAS are used to identify characteristics of upper secondary and adult education and training systems. The SAS data is used to compare skills levels and distributions at different ages across countries and, in conjunction with comparable data on Literacy from the Internal Adult Literacy Survey, to disaggregate life course and period effects on skills.
The analysis of the international survey data, alongside the findings from the comparative political economy research, suggest both continuity and change in models of lifelong learning. Education
15 systems are having to adapt to major shifts in demographics, technology and work organisation in societies which are becoming increasingly unequal in wealth and incomes. However, their education systems respond in different ways to these common global socio-economic forces. Different models of lifelong learning, with distinctive educational and societal effects, can still be identified, although in each case with significant internal variation amongst countries associated with each model, and increasing evidence of hybridization. A distinctive ‘Nordic’ model of lifelong learning can still be identified in Norway, Sweden and Finland, with Denmark suggesting the emergence of a new hybrid model sharing features of the social market model and the Nordic model. Analysis of recent interviews with policymakers in Singapore will explore a further example of hybridisation, suggesting the need to refine the traditional typologies of lifelong learning.
Andy Green is Professor of Comparative Social science at the UCL Institute of Education, and Director, since 2008, of the ERSC Research Centre on Learning and Life Chances (LLAKES). He was formerly co-founder and co-director of the UK Government-funded Wider Benefits of Learning Centre (1999-2004) and has directed and co-directed a number of major comparative research projects addressing both economic and social impacts of education and training, including Education and Training for a High Skills Economy (ESRC, 1997-2000); Globalisation, Education and Development (DFID, 2004-6); Convergence and Divergence in Education Systems in Europe (EC, 1996-7). He has frequently acted as consultant both to international bodies, such as CEDEFOP, the European Commission, OECD and UNESCO, and to UK Government bodies, including the DFES National Skills Task Force (1999-2000) and Skills Task Force Research Group (2002), the Ministerial Skills Strategy Steering Group (2003) and the House of Lords Select Committee on Social Mobility (2015). Andy Green has published widely on a range of social and education issues, with major works translated into Chinese, French, German, Japanese and Spanish. His major books include: Regimes of Social Cohesion: Societies and the Crisis of Globalisation, Palgrave 2011; Education and Development in a Global Era: Strategies for ‘Successful’ Globalisation, DFID, 2007; Education, Equality and Social Cohesion, Palgrave 2006; Education, Globalisation and the Nation State, Palgrave, 1997. A new and extended edition of his prize-winning 1990 book was published in 2013 as Education and State Formation: Europe, East Asian and the USA. His latest book, published on open access by Palgrave in 2017, is entitled: The Crisis for Young People: Generational Inequality in Education, Work, Housing and Welfare.
16 Invited panels and lectures abstracts
Pillar 1: Mariann Solberg What is knowledge in Education? Changing ideals in Norwegian education policy Lecture by Professor Mariann Solberg, University of Tromsø
Comments by Lars Løvlie and Inga Bostad, UiO
The school is supposed to bring knowledge to the new generation. Is knowledge an absolute value of education? Is it a goal in itself? If not, who and what is knowledge in education for? In the lecture I discuss the epistemic status and societal value of different forms of knowledge in education. I first go into the question of what we are referring to when talking about knowledge in education. What concepts of knowledge, what forms of knowledge, and what views on knowledge are involved? I lay out conceptions of knowledge that I find essential for understanding what we mean by knowledge in education. When forming a grid that can help us understand developments in views on knowledge in education, I mainly turn to epistemology and philosophical contributions, but also to the sociology of knowledge. I ask how the ideals of knowledge in education have changed over time in Norwegian education policy, sketch some basic lines in the development, and discuss some possible consequences.
Mariann Solberg is professor of pedagogy at Department of Education, UiT The Arctic University of Norway and head of the research group Philosophy of Education. She gained her Dr. Art. in philosophy. Mariann Solberg is editor-in-chief of Uniped, the Norwegian journal for university pedagogy. Her research interests currently center on knowledge and Bildung. She has published on philosophy of education, teaching and learning in higher education, information literacy, academic development, philosophy of social science, epistemology, and philosophy in the working life.
17 Pillar 2: Magnus Hultén
Science wars? How conceptualisation of knowledge in education has become the centre of the debate over Sweden's poor Pisa-scores
Lecture by Magnus Hultén, Linköping University.
Comments from Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, and Harald Jarning, UiO.
This talk deals with the politicization of the concept of knowledge within the field of education in Sweden. Starting in the mid 1970s, educational debate using the concept of knowledge started surfacing. This was the time of the great comprehensive educational reforms in Sweden, creating the compulsory, unified and state controlled primary and secondary school system. Implementing this new school system created tensions and fierce debate. It was in this context that a group of intellectuals and scholars started to address educational problems through the use of the concept of knowledge.
The increased importance of the concept of knowledge was seen in political debate in the early 1980s, but never translated into policy. Instead, other aspects became important, primarily questions concerning the efficiency of the public sector, competition as means for improvement and freedom of choice - often summed up by the influence of new public management. But in the succeeding restructuring the Swedish educational system in the 1990s, the concept on knowledge surfaced again and came to play a key role in forming curriculum and policy.
What we see, starting in the late 1970s, is the political potential in the concept of knowledge being developed. The power of it to recontextualize both the curriculum as well as old controversies and positions in the educational debate. The rise and influence of international large scale assessment systems on educational policy in the last decades has resulted in an even accentuated debate over the conceptualization of knowledge in Swedish curriculum and policy, turning into a metadebate or a science war, where different conceptions of knowledge are are seen as either crucial to or devastating for the future and success of the Swedish school system. The talk will try to answer why "knowledge" has come to be given such a pivotal role, and what this does to our understanding of the educational enterprise.
Magnus Hultén (1970) is professor of science education at Linköping University. His research interest lies in the history of schooling, with a focus on educational policy and the history of science and technology in public education. He has recently published a book on the 1990s educational reforms in Sweden, emphasizing a knowledge turn in Swedish educational policy. He is the editor of Skola och samhälle, an online education opinion magazine.
18 Pillar 3: Book presentation with discussant
Book presentation with discussant: Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model: Comparative and historical perspectives, Oxford Studies in Comparative Education, Routledge, due summer 2021, Open Access
With the editors: Jesper Eckhardt Larsen, Barbara Schulte, and Fredrik W. Thue
Discussant: Kim Helsvig
Schoolteachers and the Nordic Model: The Nordic model has often figured as a promise: as the living proof that there can be a “quintessentially middle way between socialism and capitalism, a rationalist culture of social reform and democratic institutions” (Andersson 2009:231). Already early on, the model – at that time, mainly embodied by Sweden – attracted international attention (Childs 1936), until Esping-Andersen in 1990 honoured and consolidated the idea of a ‘Nordic model’ further by awarding the region their own (‘social democratic’) regime type (Esping-Andersen 1990). The countries most closely associated with the Nordic model have not been constant over time: while for decades Sweden was the synecdoche for the Nordic model, the 1990s economic debt crisis in Sweden and ensuing economic, political, and social struggles destabilized this position. Particularly in education, the long-celebrated supremacy of the Swedish system, not last due to Sweden’s deteriorating PISA results, began to crumble, giving way to a hitherto little acknowledged country to become the rising star: Finland (Dervin 2016).
Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden have of course their own, distinct educational systems. In the strict sense, one would have to stretch the model considerably to accommodate all five systems. However, in less strict terms, one could see these five countries as being characterized by “a specific political culture built around workers education, a rationalist and pragmatic reformism and not superstition, and long legacies of institutions for spreading knowledge – study circles, public libraries, [some] of the world’s oldest systems for public education” (Andersson 2009:240), as well as by their strong emphasis on what Brunila and Edström (2013:301) term “gender equality work” in education (see also Warin and Adriany 2017).
Schoolteachers were, and continue to be, central agents in keeping this “specific political culture” alive and enacting the Nordic model in such a way that it makes sense to students, parents, and the teachers themselves as a professional group. Historically one may argue that it was less the teachers who followed suit to the model, through e.g. top-down teacher education programs; but rather, that teachers created the conditions for the model (or parts of the model) to emerge. One important building block of what was later to become distinctly ‘Nordic’ was the ‘organic’ teacher type of the late nineteent